The Slumbering Fox
by Majestical-Potato
Summary: He has been asleep for the last nine hundred years. The Golden Age of Shinobi had long passed thousands of years ago, only to be replaced by the Great Age of Pirates. Destiny is calling his name one last time. Watch as he shakes the world to its core.
1. Before It All Began

**Prologue**

Legends. The stories of old, of heroic deeds, terrifying beasts, magnificent creatures, awe-inspiring powers, bountiful treasures and the chaotic destruction of others. Legends inspire others to become something more and achieve greatness, fame, wealth, power. Yet, all stories come from somewhere because everything is based off something; a piece of history to inspire the tall tales of humanity. One such legend is of a land, filled with beings of great and devastating power, of a land in a distant corner of the world that nobody knows, of a land that is thousands of years old. It is the land of the shinobi, the Elemental Nations. But only few have heard of the power of the shinobi, to bend the elements to their will, to summon powerful animals to do their bidding, to wield powers equivalent to that of the Akuma no Mi and still retain the ability to swim. Centuries of adventurers have embarked on the journey to find the Elemental Nations and the untold power they could achieve, but even after hundreds of years, nobody has ever found those legendary lands, not even the World Government whose influence stretches far and wide. One man is the key to finding those illusive lands, one known as the most powerful of them all. He can call upon the greatest of storms, crush the tallest mountains and create incredible islands but no one knows who he is or where he is, only a title to call him - The Heavenly Sage.

* * *

Chapter One: Before It All Began

 **Him**

Something stirred deep inside him.

It was a feeling.

One he hadn't felt in centuries.

An instinct that had developed over time.

Change was coming.

And he was needed once again.

Golden eyes opened for the first time in 900 years.

* * *

 ** **Robin****

Robin was alone again.

It was a fact that she had come to accept in her short life of ten years.

Another family had taken her in only to betray her for her bounty. When she was 8 she cried every time they betrayed her, always hoping they would take her in, but by the time she was nine, she understood how greedy humans could be.

She stopped crying after that.

Currently, she was aboard a ship she had stolen away on, taking only the barest minimum of food and water as not to bring the attention of the crew to their unintended passenger. Robin was eavesdropping on the captain having a conversation with his navigator.

"How far out from Klaroen Island are we?" the captain asked.

"We're less than a day out. The island itself is remote, no civilization whatsoever, just a few ruins. We should be able to stop to restock our water supply and maybe grab some fresh fruits if the island has any," the navigator replied.

Robin decided that that was all the information she needed and promptly dissolved the ear she had grown on the wall. She then shifted onto her side and let the waves lapping against the hull, lull her to sleep.

 **The Next Day**

Robin awoke feeling slightly refreshed and groggily rubbed her eyes. She got up and stretched, shaking some cobwebs out of her hair, and proceeded to creep? to the kitchen. She immediately noticed that the ship was emptier than it should be and concluded that they had reached Klaroen Island, which meant that most of the crew would be out on the island looking for water and food. With that thought, Robin's spirits rose a bit because she realized that she had more freedom aboard the ship and started to hum a little tune as she began walking to the kitchen.

But sometimes good things lead to bad endings.

In Robin's little moment of delight with her extra freedom, she failed to take her normal precautions when walking through the ship and thus, failed to realize that the ship's cook had stayed behind to take inventory of the remaining food.

She opened the door and froze on the spot.

In front of her stood the cook with his back turned to her, he was, at the moment, taking stock of the amount of fruit left, but turned when he heard the door open.

"Finished already? Well tell me, what di-," He stopped mid-sentence at the sight of Robin standing in the doorway.

"What are ya doing here," He demanded, stepping forward menacingly, "Better yet, why are ya on this ship ya little stowaway?"

Robin didn't answer. She did the only thing she could do.

She ran.

She ran out of the kitchen.

She ran onto the main deck.

She ran down the plank passing surprised crew members carrying barrels of water back to the ship.

The cook burst out from the galley screaming, "STOP THAT LITTLE BRAT!"

The rest of the crew stopped what they were doing and began to chase her.

She ran into the forest, heart racing, adrenaline pumping through her small body.

She could hear them behind her, crashing through the forest searching for her. Ahead of her she saw a mountain riddled with caves and it gave her hope.

" _I can lose them in there,"_ she thought.

Behind her, the crashing sounds became louder as the faster men began to catch up with her. She pushed herself thinking ' _Faster. Faster. FASTER.'_ And with a burst of speed, broke the treeline careening through the field and into the first cave she saw.

The first crew members broke the treeline and saw Robin just as she entered the cave.

"After her," one screamed, "Don't let her get away!"

Hearing that last statement sent Robin dashing even faster through the cave. She went deeper and deeper. The air cooled, the light darkened and before long, she was running blind.

Darkness surrounded her, but she kept running. What she didn't notice in her terror filled flight was how the tunnel split into two paths and ended up running into the right one. The crew not too far behind her ended up taking the left path, which led them straight to their deaths. Running right off the edge of a deep abyss tends to kill people.

Hearing the sounds of the crew fade behind her, Robin slowed down to a walking pace, regaining her breath after her mad dash. She trudged slowly through the cave, deep in thought about what she was to do next.

She knew that she was on Klaroen Island somewhere in the West Blue. The island had no civilization, but had plenty of fresh water and food. She realized that she had no way off the island, seeing that she couldn't go back to the ship, and that she would have to try her luck by signaling other ships. So lost in thought she was, she failed to check ahead of her for obstacles and ended up tripping over a small bump in the pathway. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms protectively around her head as she tumbled down the pass. The further she went, the more rough the ground became. It became to painful to bear, as she felt her skin being broken by sharp rocks she cried out in pain. One particularly large rock tore into her face leaving a sizeable cut on her cheek. All of a sudden, she hit something very soft that immediately halted her descent. Slowly, she unwrapped her arms from around her and looked up … and saw the biggest tail she had ever seen. She tried to stand up, but immediately fell down head spinning.

" _I guess I hit my head harder than I thought,"_ she mused right before falling back and succumbing to the sweet embrace of darkness.

* * *

 **Him**

He had found an island after a couple days of running across the ocean and decided to explore it. He found it to be unpopulated with some old castle ruins and a mountain riddled with caves and small caverns. Right beside the mountain was a large lake filled with crystal clear water and the entire island was covered by a lush green forest. A perfect place for a being such as him. He proceeded to pad through the forests to arrive at the base of the mountain. Seeing as he felt quite tired, he decided to find a nice little cave to curl up and nap in.

He awoke a few hours later when he felt something bump into one of his tails and then heard it collapse. He unfurled his tails to glimpse at who or what had disturbed his rest and was surprised to a see a young girl no older than 10, on her back, unconscious. He noted the cuts and bruises all along her legs and arms, the ripped dress she was wearing and the rather large cut on her cheek. The girl was in dire need of medical aid, aid he was very willing to give. He gently wrapped a tail around her and lifted her up. He pulled the tail around until he was curled up around her and pumped medical chakra through her body. Instantly, the cuts and bruises began to heal and after a minute or two, they faded to nothing, leaving no indication that she had been injured at all. Satisfied that she was healed, he curled up once more and fell back asleep.

* * *

 **Robin**

She snuggled deeper into the soft, warm blanket wrapped around her. It was so comfortable, more comfortable than anything her aunt Roji had ever provided or any other person for that matter. A small frown marred her little face when she felt the blanket shift and loosen, and immediately tightened her hold on it to keep it from slipping. What she didn't expect to happen was to be dropped unceremoniously onto the ground. It didn't hurt, but it jolted her awake. She slowly picked herself off the ground, dusting her tattered dress, and looked up. She found herself staring into the giant mesmerizing eyes of what seemed to be a fox.

A very, very big fox.

But she noticed that despite there being a huge carnivorous beast twenty times larger than her, she wasn't terrified in the slightest. She was entranced by the beauty of its eyes, always shifting colors and covered in the most interesting of designs. She saw the most beautiful sea green eyes, which changed into eyes as white as snow and then into eyes blue as the ocean she sailed. She saw a lavender eye filled with a ripple pattern and a red one with spinning tomoe on the inside. The beast startled her out of her trance by asking her a question.

" _What is your name, young one_ _?"_

She thought she was going crazy. She had heard the beast speak, yet she hadn't seen its mouth move. Telepathy? Even more surprising was that it spoke in the language of the Poneglyphs. A language as old as history and one that very few could read, much less speak. Robin was one of the last few people in the world who could decipher the Poneglyphs and probably the only person who could speak the dead language, or so she thought.

" _My name is Robin_ _,"_ she replied. She followed up by asking the creature, " _What is your name and why do you speak the ancient language of the Poneglyphs?_ "

The beast looked at her in surprise.

" _Ancient language? Poneglyphs? What are you speaking of child? I have only known this one language my entire life._ "

Robin was shocked by this revelation.

" _Just how old is this thing!?"_ she thought, " _It has to be at least 800 years old!"_

She answered replying," _Um, the ancient language that I'm talking about is the language that we are speaking right now. It's a dead language in the world and I used to be the only person who could speak it, but that isn't the case now that I know you speak it. As for Poneglyphs, they are giant stone blocks with the history of the world written on them. Truly, I still don't know all that much about them still as I am still researching them. I only know how to read them._ "

The great being looked deep in thought, mulling over this discovery and it asked, " _You speak as if there is another common tongue in the world. Do you also speak such a language?_ _"_

Robin responded with an affirmative nod.

It also asked, _"_ _Could you teach me?_ _"_

She hesitantly nodded again.

She wanted to ask what she got in return, but fear of what the fox might do to her stopped her from doing so.

 _"_ _In return, I can offer a place to sleep, food to warm your belly and water to wet your throat_ _,"_ it said.

She sighed in relief, a small, genuine smile gracing her lips as she nodded.

" _To answer your first question, my name is Naruto. It is very nice to meet you._ "

* * *

 ** **Naruto****

 **Two Years Later**

Robin had grown on him.

He couldn't deny it.

They had been traveling together for about 2 years and he knew she had made herself known in his heart.

Despite losing much of her childhood innocence in her early life, she still acted very much like a child like her amazement at his water walking, when she asked if she could sleep in his tails or if he could change his eyes to a violet color. He granted her such simple, innocent requests and enjoyed her amazement and awe at his abilities as it warmed his heart to see her act her age. She reminded him very much of his own daughter, Himawari, and it made him want to protect her even more. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to stay with Robin forever, that she would have to grow up on her own, so he taught her all he could to help her survive in the world. He taught her how to fight along with helping her train her devil fruit powers. He also taught her the finer aspects of being a shinobi such as stealth, spying, assassination and advanced survival techniques. She was a fast learner, which made teaching her all the easier for Naruto.

But she also taught Naruto many things.

All that she knew of history from the end of the Void Century to present day. The common tongue as well as slang (Naruto was able to speak like a normal person compared to his old, sage like voice.) She told him of the Akuma no Mi. All that she knew of the three great powers in the world: The Marines, the Shichibukai and the Yonko. About the World Government and how she hated them, and about Ohara and its destruction. She ended up breaking down after speaking about what happened at Ohara.

Naruto tried his best to help her, but he knew from experience that she would have to battle her demons by herself. Whether she came out on top depended on if she had the willpower to do so.

* * *

 ** **Robin****

Robin had enjoyed the last two years traveling with Naruto. He gave her the closest thing to a childhood that she had ever had. He became a role model in her eyes with his endless patience, immeasurable knowledge, and his passion for teaching. He had taught and helped her so much, more than anybody had ever done.

She knew he had to leave, that she would be alone again and she didn't want that. She knew she was being selfish, but she did **NOT** want to to let go of the only good thing that had come into her life.

They had arrived on an island that was on one of the biggest trade routes in the South Blue and she had a feeling in her stomach that they wouldn't leave it together.

Naruto had checked them into a modest hotel (she had no idea how he did it, him being a fox and all, but she suspected it had to do with that chakra stuff he had told her about.)

They had already spent a couple days there visiting the different shops and markets that littered the city. He bought her books and clothes. They had gone to the park, where he told her epic stories with little wooden figures to act them out and they had laid back to watch the clouds. Her laughs and her smiles were all the payment Naruto needed because he knew they would be in short supply once he left.

It was late in the evening of their last night together. Robin was trying to sleep, Naruto curled up beside her. Robin tried to stay strong, to not show her sadness, but she was failing miserably. She shoulders were shaking ever so softly, her breathing was hitched and she was trying ever so hard not to let the tears spill.

She heard a sign behind her.

A shifting sound and then a sudden increase in weight.

And then warm, comforting arms wrapped around her.

She slowly rolled over, and looked into the familiar amethyst eyes of Naruto… in human form.

She had never known that he could shift forms, only change his size.

In her opinion, he was fucking gorgeous. His long, untamed, snow white hair fell around his face. Whisker-like markings on his cheeks made him look for handsome. He easily dwarfed her petite frame, almost twice as tall as her. She noticed how well toned his body was, no excess fat or overtly large muscles, just the perfect amount to look absolutely amazing.

Robin let the tears spill out in a wave and hugged Naruto as hard as she could.

She buried her face in Naruto's chest, and bawled her eyes out.

She felt strong hands gently stroke her head and rub her back, and she just let out all the pent up frustration and sadness that had built up over the past week out.

She looked back up into his face and could see a pained look in his eyes.

She said (more like hiccuped out) ever so softly, "I… I *hic* don't want you t-*HIC* to go!"

He continued to stroke her head, but she could see that he was struggling too.

She continued to cry for some time, Naruto trying his best to comfort her.

The room descended into silence with the occasional sniffle, its occupants thinking about what lay in the future for them.

* * *

 **Naruto**

Fūinjutsu.

That was the answer to his dilemma.

He couldn't believe he hadn't thought about it earlier.

Stupid.

He could create a seal to do whatever he wanted. After all, he was a Grandmaster at the art.

He heard Robin's breathing deepen and slow to a more rhythmic pace and he got to work. He entered his mindscape, already bringing old seal designs and new ones he just made up to float around him. He sat down at a desk, the floating seals hovering behind him, and began creating a seal most complex. He already had what he wanted it to do listed out, all he had to do was mix them together without it exploding. He wanted it to be his parting gift to Robin, so it had to absolutely amazing.

* * *

 ** **Robin****

Robin woke up to Naruto gently shaking her.

"Get up," he said, "I have a gift for you."

He rolled out of bed, got up and only for his massive frame to fall to the ground.

"Oh. It seems I have forgotten how to walk."

Robin burst out laughing.

She continued to laugh her ass off as she watched Naruto struggle to reacquaint his human legs with the concept of walking. When he finally succeeded in making it out the doorway, she scrambled out of bed and followed him out of the hotel.

They ended up walking out of the city and into the forest that made up a large part of the island. They walked into a clearing when the ground began to shake and a small wooden house grew from the ground. Robin was unfazed by this as Naruto had demonstrated what he called Mokuton a long time ago. What she did question was why they were all the way out here in the woods.

" _Maybe he's going to rape me and then eat me alive,"_ she mused. Let it be known that Robin developed her morbid and grisly sense of humor during her time with Naruto.

As they walked through the doorway, she saw Naruto slap the side of the building, and watched a sealing matrix spread from his hand. She recognized it is one of his many warding seals that he had used in the past, which meant that whatever his gift was, it was only between the two of them.

As Naruto closed the door behind her, she noticed that there was no wood floor, which made her curious as all the houses he had made in the past had floors.

"Robin, my gift to you is something I made just for you. Something that'll stay between us and only us."

Robin nodded noting the seriousness of his tone.

"I need you to take off your dress."

She began to nod, but stopped realizing what exactly he just said.

"WHAT?" she exclaimed.

"Nonononono. I didn't mean it like that!" Naruto started to wave his arms around in a comical fashion, frantically trying to defend himself, "It's just that my gift involves a majority of your skin and so I need you to take your dress off. I'm not trying to force you into anything unpleasant or sexual or-"

Robin cut him off by taking her dress off and throwing it at his face.

As he swiped the dress of his head to look at Robin only to stop… and stare.

* * *

 **Naruto**

Naruto realized how weird this situation was.

In front of him was a twelve year old girl, practically naked except for a pair of panties, and then there was him.

A very, very old being, someone a whole lot older than the young girl in front of him.

Pedophile.

Oh wait, Robin just said that exact same thing just then.

He agreed. It was a very pedophilic situation and he was to blame.

Back to the situation at hand, Robin was standing there, arms covering her budding breasts, looking down, her face blushing up a storm.

Cute.

Wait, WHAT!

" _NONONO! BAD NARUTO! NONE OF THAT THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"_ he shouted internally.

"Robin, I need you to lie down on the ground for me," he said as he lowered himself to the floor.

As she lay in front of him, he began to explain what he was going to do, "Alright Robin, my gift to you is a multi-purpose seal. I haven't actually told you about seals, but I know you've already seen what they can do. I'll just tell you that I'm absolute badass with these things and can basically do whatever I want with them. The one that I will be giving you is based off a mind command matrix, which has a basic health monitoring matrix, a teleportation matrix, multiple storage seals and a shape animation matrix integrated into it. Basically, this seal will tell me how you're doing, allow me to teleport to you and multiple storage seals for you to seal money, books, trinkets, condoms, even a dildo for those lonely nights!"

Robin slapped him for the last two.

"Okay, okay. But really. You can put whatever you want in these babies, even living things, but I wouldn't recommend keeping them in there for long. They tend to die. Now the shape animation matrix will animate the seal itself, allowing you to make it do what you want. For example, if you want to deposit some money, you can move the seal to the palm of your hand, touch it and think 'Money' along with the amount that you want and POOF it'll appear in your hands. Now that I think about it, I never explained what a mind command matrix is. A mind command matrix is a extremely complex and advanced seal that I came up with that helps control seals. It allows a user to control different seals using their mind and a bit of chakra to choose the seal they want. Now I've tweaked this entire matrix to rely mainly on natural chakra, seeing as you barely have any to begin with, so you only have to think about what you need and it will filter the natural chakra to allow it to mix with your personal chakra. It has plenty of other smaller seals that can make it do some pretty cool stuff, but that's for you to figure out. Now for the final part, what do you want your seal to look like?"

Naruto saw a confused expression spread across her face and he quickly explained to her, "The entire matrix will condense into an image, which is why I left a small part of the sealing matrix open, so I could incorporate an image of your choice into it. So… what do you want?"

Robin spent a few minutes deep in thought, while Naruto patiently waited beside her.

"Crane. I want a crane." She finally said.

Naruto smiled, "Interesting choice. Let's begin."

Robin exclaimed, "Are you telling me that I didn't need to take my dress off until now!?"

Naruto slammed his head into the ground.

Pedophile. Pervert. Idiot. Dumbass.

Naruto pulled himself off the ground, "Let's just do this."

Using chakra with surgical precision, he drew line after line on Robin's petite body. His fingers brushed past her breasts tracing delicate, yet complex designs. His right hand began to focus on her left breast, drawing more intricate and swirling patterns. His fingers scraped against her nipple, causing her to gasp in surprise (and a bit of pleasure). He finished drawing on her chest and moved to her stomach where his left hand had already started drawing the rest of the seal. Once he finished, he placed one hand over her heart and activated the entire seal. Immediately, the golden chakra flared to life, swirling around Robin. It began to condense around her left breast becoming smaller and smaller until she could see a golden image of a crane swathed in flames. Once settled, the seal lost its golden color and turned black making it look like a tattoo. A very fancy tattoo.

Naruto couldn't help but beam with pride at the ethereal beauty of his creation.

* * *

 **Robin**

She looked at the *animal* with amazement in her eyes, her hand stroking it in wonder.

It was beautiful.

 _"Move."_

The crane sprang from its resting place, flapping its wings and began to fly around, drifting over her stomach, racing across her back and fluttering down her arm. Subconsciously, she wanted it to be violet, like Naruto's eyes, and much to her astonishment, it changed itself from black as a starless night to a deep, mesmerizing violet.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes, emotions overwhelming her in a way that she hadn't felt in two years.

She wiped her eyes.

"Do you not like it? Is it not what you wanted? I- I can change it if you want!" Naruto began to panic again when he saw her crying.

She let more tears leak out her eyes, shaking her head, "No. No, Naruto. I absolutely love it. I'm not crying because I'm sad, but because I'm happy. This is the most thoughtful and the best gift that anybody has given me. Ever."

She tackled him, wrapping her small arms around her, "Thank you so much Naruto! You have no idea how much this means to me."

She reflected on the past two years, on how Naruto took care of her, how he stayed with her no matter what, how he made her laugh and smile and feel happy.

She realized how much Naruto meant to her.

It made her release the iron grip she had on her emotions, and she let them all out right there into Naruto's chest.

She cried, just like the night before, but for entirely different reasons.

"How can I ever repay you? You already have so much money and knowledge and power and I just don't know how to repay you for everything that you've done for me!"

Naruto just hugged her back and whispered in her ear, "Your happiness, your smiles, your laughs, they are all I will ever need, Robin. Remember that and also that I will do everything in my power to keep that happiness. After two years, you have become someone very precious to me and I will do anything for the people close to my heart."

Robin felt her heart beat a little faster after that declaration. She had found someone that truly cared about her and it made her oh so very happy.

"Then can you stay with me? You are the sole reason of my happiness." she asked softly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Naruto's eyes clouded with guilt, "I want to stay with you, you have to believe me, but I need you to grow up. There are somethings I just can't teach you if I'm there with you every step of the way."

Robin glumly nodded her head, she knew exactly what he was talking about, but she just didn't want him to leave.

The two of them stayed there for a while, hugging until Naruto broke the silence, "Erm, Robin. Do you mind putting your dress back on? This situation kinda screams pedophile to pesky commoners."

Robin blushed deeply, "Yeah, I can do that. Could you turn around please?"

Naruto did so and Robin picked up her discarded dress, slipping it over her head.

"Let's go back, Naruto." she said, opening the door.

Naruto smiled and followed her out of the house.

As they walked back to the city together, the small wooden house sank back into the ground.

* * *

 **Naruto**

They were at the port.

Robin's ship to Loguetown was about to set sail.

Naruto was crying (comically), while Robin was ready to leave, adamant on making her own way through the world.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

Robin turned to Naruto, "I guess this is goodbye."

"No, this is more of a see you later," he said pulling Robin into one last hug, "I'm going to miss you a lot, kid."

Robin returned the hug, "I'm going to miss you too, Naruto."

He asked, "You have everything right? Money, books, dagger, medical supplies, dil-."

"Yes mom," she cut him off, "I have everything that you suggested sans a few items."

The boat rang its final bell, captain shouting the boat would be leaving in five minutes.

Robin motioned for Naruto to lean down, "I have something for you."

When he bent over enough, Robin leaned up and planted her lips on his.

"My first kiss." She turned and walked up the gangplank, a small sway in her hips.

Naruto could only watch dumbly as she walked onto the ship and out of sight.

Pedophile.

Naruto smacked himself.

An old as shit person such as him, with thousands of years of experience, just had a move made on him by a 12 year old girl. She even swayed her hips! Twelve! Hips!

Naruto fell down to the ground crying dramatically, beating his fist against the ground, mumbling about twelve year olds who act older than they are.

After Naruto finished his little show, he got back up and watched the ship depart into the horizon.

" _Good luck Robin. Give'em hell."_ He turned on his heel and vanished in a swirl of golden flames.

* * *

 **Fisher**

Fisher Tiger stood tall on the Red Line, looking at the Holy Land of Mariejois, pure rage burning in his eyes, war pounding in his ears, death itching in his hands, passion hot like an inferno burning in his heart.

This was it.

Armed with a sabre, a pistol, a blunderbuss and two extra swords, he was ready to make his bloody mark on history and risk his life for the sake of thousands of others.

He marched forward.

There were plenty of rocky outcrops covering the top of the Red Line between its edge and the gates to the Holy Land, he was passing one of them when he met the most interesting animal. Sleeping behind one of the outcrops was a giant fox, one that easily dwarfed him, it's head bigger than he was standing up and he was one of the tallest fishman from Fishman Island. He could feel the raw power rolling off of it, giving him a peek of the immeasurable strength the great being wielded.

Despite that, he felt absolutely calm around the great beast, not feeling even the slightest bit of fear.

It opened its eyes.

Slitted eyes the color of blood, dark with rage and pain and suffering. Eyes that burned with a fire from the depths of Hell. Eyes that understood the horrors of what humanity could do. Eyes that didn't seem to look at him, but his soul, his very existence.

" _I see you have arrived young adventurer."_

Tiger jumped in surprise, not expecting a voice to appear in his head. He instantly assumed it was the fox in front of him, as there was nobody else besides them by the outcrop.

" _I see you have come prepared, but have you prepared enough? What is your plan? How are you going to get the slaves down to the sea?"_

Realization dawned on Tiger. He hadn't thought about that last question. Mariejois was 10,000 meters above the sea, 10,000 meters he just climbed, and 10,000 meters the slaves had no way of going down.

He whispered out, "I have no way of getting the slaves back down. How could be so stupid! They're just going to be captured again!"

He punched a boulder in frustration, shattering it to bits and pieces. He sat on his heels, head in his hands trying to come up with a solution. Sadly, he couldn't think of anything that could get the slaves down safely with what he had at hand.

" _You do not have to worry fishman, I can get them down safely, I only asked to see where your true intentions lie."_

Tiger perked up at this, "You have a way to get them down? That's great, wonderful actually! I can go through with my original plan!"

" _And what is this 'original plan' you speak of. How do you plan on freeing the slaves?"_

Tiger took his saber and began to trace a crude layout of Mariejois, "Up here in the northeastern sector, is a huge warehouse filled with oil. Across from it is the armory, which means gunpowder and lots of it. I plan on using the gunpowder to light the oil and send it exploding throughout the northern half of the city, which will then spread to the southern half. After doing so, I will move to the southern half of the city where the slave pens are located and free the slaves. On my way there, I hope to break into every house that time allows and free the slaves part of each noble's private collection. The slave pens are right next to a gate that leads straight to the edge of the Red Line," he pointed to a the southwestern section, drawing an 'X' to indicate the gate, "By this time, the guards and the marines stationed will have realized that the fire can't be controlled and instead, check the slaves. Bastard nobles love them too much. I plan on taking on any forces that could hinder the escape of the slaves even cat the cost of my life! My only regret is that I won't be able to get all the slaves locked away in the mansions."

" _Good plan, but what matters is if you can execute it properly and efficiently. Do not worry about the slaves in the mansions, I will take care of them. Also, do you plan on killing anybody? Such an act would make this easier for you."_

Tiger shook his head, "Killing is not my focus here, I will only kill when absolutely necessary. What I want to know is if I can trust you to get the slaves to safety."

" _I have an ability to send objects to an alternate dimension of my own creation. I can put them in there. I can also teleport to a premarked destination and create boats for the slaves to return to whence they came. Finally, I have abilities that would allow me to create a pathway down to the Sabaody Archipelago. All are safe ways to escape, but I'll leave it up to you to decide. This is your plan after all."_

Tiger mulled over the options before asking, "Which option has the greatest chance of returning the slaves to their proper homes?"

" _Most likely sending them to the alternate destination. That way, I can let them out once we reach the correct island without the hassle of worrying about them, ships or such. As the dimension is my own, I can control how time flows, so a couple minutes in there could be years back here."_

Tiger nodded, thinking about the information the fox had provided him, "Alright, but how do I know I can trust you?"

" _Have you ever heard of what happened to Ohara?"_

Tiger nodded.

" _Have you heard of Nico Robin?"_

Tiger nodded again. He thought the stuff they were spouting about the scholar island and the young child was absolute bullfishshit.

" _I have taken care of and helped Nico Robin for the past 5 years, 2 of which I traveled with her."_

Tiger understood now. He knew of the lies spread about Nico Robin. He knew of how she would hate the World Government for what it had done to her. He understood that the fox was here for a friend that had been wronged. His respect for it went up many notches.

"I understand. Alright, the plan starts at midnight. My name is Fisher Tiger, adventurer and captain of the Sun Pirates."

" _Hello Fisher Tiger, my name is Naruto and I will help you make history."_

 **Midnight**

Tiger stealthily moved through the paved streets of Mariejois. Not a soul in the streets, the nobles confident that nobody would dare do anything against them.

That was going to change tonight.

Naruto was clearing out the nobles' houses of their private "collections" using clones, leaving Tiger to free and direct the rest of the slaves to the original.

He reached the armory, easily breaking in. He grabbed four barrels of gunpowder, slinging them on his shoulders as he made his way across the street to the warehouse. There, he began to set up the oil and the gunpowder in such a way that it would explode outwards, to the rest of the northern sector. He set two slow burn fuses to give him an ample amount of time to exit the building and make his way to the slave pens. He thanked whatever deity was out there for having Naruto help him because the fox made the operation happen more quickly and efficiently than he could ever hope to do.

The first explosion rocked through the city, just before Tiger entered the first pen. A curious guard stepped out the door to see what the explosion had been only to see Tiger standing over him. Faster than the guard could react, Tiger backhanded the guard, sending him crashing into a wall and knocking him out.

Entering the pen, he found the key ring on a hook next to the previous guard's desk. As he looked at the rest of the room, he realized that it was the branding room, the irons hanging on the wall to his left, the coal filled brazier in the center of the room. Rage filled his heart at the site of the hated brands and what they represented and with superhuman strength, tore the iron brands to pieces. His violent outburst awoke the rest of the slaves who hadn't waked from the explosion.

The slaves looked at him fearfully, one asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Fisher Tiger," a second explosion sounded behind him bathing him in an demonic glow, "And I'm here to free you.".

* * *

 **Naruto**

Naruto sat by the cliff edge, waiting for Tiger to free the slaves from their pens. He had sent clones armed with the Sharingan and the Rinnegan to each of the many mansions in the city, stealing away into them and warping the slaves to a safe place. The World Nobles were so secure with their own superiority, they barely had any security allowing someone of his skill to just walk in, take what he needed and walk out without even trying.

His clones had already cleared out the northern sector of the city, and half way through with the southern half when he heard the first explosion. Fire exploded out and covered the surrounding mansions with burning oil, signaling the demise of the city. Through the Rinnegan, he saw Tiger making his way to the pens and he knew that he now was the time to open the gate. Using a single tail, he punched a neat hole through the gate and the wall surrounding it.

And he waited.

The last slaves in the houses had been sent to his alternate dimension, all that was left were the ones in the pens.

Soon after, slaves began to trickle through the hole and wake their way to him. He could smell a multitude of emotions from them.

Fear.

Hope.

Desperation.

Happiness.

Rage.

The slaves reeked of pure, raw emotion.

The first group to reach him was a group of women, children and mermaids surrounded by a group of fishmen for protection. The leader of the fishmen, a tall, blue catfish fishman, stopped in front of him, "Fisher Tiger has sent us to you saying you can help us."

" _And so I shall child."_ Naruto's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan spun within his eye, a vortex sprouting from it, enveloping the slaves and teleporting them to where the other slaves resided. As the slaves flooded through the gates, Naruto could see that the fire had already spread to the south side of the city, and while the slaves were fleeing through the southwest gate, the Celestial Dragons were being escorted out the East Gate by a few powerful marines. He could already sense quite a few marines converging on the slave pens, but Tiger was there to fend them off. As he sent more and more slaves into his alternate dimension, he sent a couple clones in there to explain what was going on at the moment and what was going to them after Tiger finished up freeing the rest of the slaves.

At long last, Naruto sensed Tiger moving back towards him, but he was also fighting the marines who had come to get the slaves.

Tiger was moving too slow and Naruto could sense more and more marines coming to join the fight, but he wouldn't move until Tiger threw the kunai he gave him.

Manly pride and all that (Would it be called fishmanly or fishy pride?).

The last slave had been sent to safety and Tiger was still fighting the marines.

" _Damn it Tiger! Get your ass over here! I can feel a really strong marine approaching your position!"_ He roared in Tiger's mind.

" _I'm trying dammit! These marines will kill me if I turn and flee right now!"_ Tiger shouted back.

" _Then use the damn kunai you fucktard!_

" _Oh yeah. Forgot about that. Let me me get it out."_

No sooner had Tiger said that, Naruto felt a tug at his mind indicating tiger had thrown the kunai and barely in time too cause the strong marine had arrived.

Naruto disappeared in a flash of golden chakra and landed in the middle of a raging inferno of magma.

He shook himself free of the magma which earned him a surprised gasp from the soldiers around him.

"How did it do that?!" one asked.

"It shook off Vice Admiral Sakazuki's ' **Dai Funka'** like it was nothing!" another exclaimed.

"What type of monster did that stupid fucking fish summon!?" yelled another.

Naruto could smell the fear coming off of them (the smell of urine came from a few of them) except for one. The powerful one that he had sensed earlier. He turned a crimson eye on the individual noting his solid build, clean-shaven face, his hate filled eyes and his lava covered fist.

The lava man only growled at him and launched another attack. The man jumped straight at him, fist reared back and magma bubbling all over it, " **MEIGO!** "

His hand began to morph into the head of a hound, magma turning an ominous red, but the technique never touched Naruto because he used a tail to send the lava wielding being flying the second he left the ground. Naruto then used a second tail to smack away the rest of the marines away, sending them flying after their superior. He grabbed Tiger with a third tail and jumped.

They went high above the tallest building of the holy land until they were floating far above the blazing city. There, Naruto took in a deep breath, molding fire chakra within his lungs and breathed out an enormous fireball, sending it crashing into Mariejois.

The entire city was razed to the ground in an instant, flames dancing upon the fallen buildings, burning wood, melting metal and scorching rocks.

When the fire died out and Mariejois was nothing but a giant burn on the ground, the giant fox and its fishman companion had disappeared.

 **1 Year Later**

Naruto and his clones had been hopping all over the world, from Paradise, to the Calm Belt and to the furthest reaches of each Blue. The slaves ranged from beautiful women, the strongest or strangest men, children of all ages (pedophilic bastards those nobles), and exotic animals. His first stop had been Fishman Island where he had released all the fishmen and merfolk. He had stayed on Fishman Island for a bit to enjoy what it had to offer along with fending off many pirates and slavers attempting to make a pretty penny. He had sent out 10 clones to help with sending the slaves, who weren't from the Grand Line, home, while he would focus on getting the rest who lived in Paradise and the Calm Belt home. 6 months had passed by the time he had dropped off the final group of slaves- a trio of girls around 16 years of age.

Seeing so many 15 and 16 year olds made Naruto think of Robin and he wanted desperately to see her, but his seal told him that she was fine. He knew she had seen the news about the attack the day after and would immediately identify him despite the news claiming him as Tiger's summon. Along with the news came a few wanted posters including Tiger's. It showed just his face during the attack surrounded by tongues of flame, under it was a substantial amount of ฿300,000,000, the highest starting bounty for anybody ever. The lies the World Government spread about what happened at Mariejois disgusted him, but at the same time he understood why they did it. He had lived for a very long time and seem generations of past humans do the exact same thing. Cover things up, lie to make them look good and the others bad. He accepted it knowing that's just how humans are.

Finishing his mission of sending the slaves home, he went back to Fishman Island to tell Tiger and to relax a bit (he really enjoyed the Mermaid Cafe. Good food, good drink, and plenty of pretty mermaids to scratch him).

Currently, he was by the Sea Forest laying beside Queen Otohime as she scratched him behind the ears. He had found her sitting here once during one of his trips around the island and they had ended up staying there together. At the moment, the Queen was having a small breather for herself after a long day of royal duties, taking care of her son and other such responsibilities.

"I truly wish that the others would see the truth instead of what they think and the prejudice of others. It pains me to see the rift between humans and fishmen." Otohime said.

Naruto opened an eye, colored a dazzling emerald, " _Humans are foolish and selfish beings, thinking that they are right, that they are better, but at the same time the fishmen think the same. Both sides are hypocrites by doing so, but it is within their nature to do such. To accept prejudices that they have lived with all their life, to accept their parent's teachings and act upon them much like how they were taught. But ever so often, people rise and fight against what they believe to be wrong. Some like you try for peace and nonviolent ways to make a change, others like Tiger use physical means to send a message- fight fire with fire. In the end, it is up to individuals like you to start the change, many obstacles will block your path, others will not accept, but when you start to win a few, many will follow. Talking about such things with me won't change things here. Power I have, wisdom even more, but I have long lost my ability to draw others to me much like how you can do now. You are respected for your compassion, intelligence and persistence, use that respect to gain support from the entire island and fulfill your dream. Remember, change begins with one person and it's all up to them to pass it on to the next."_

Naruto stood up, tails sweeping around him, knowing that Otohime would take his words to heart. He hoped she succeeded as it was a worthy goal.

He hadn't been to the surface in a couple months, maybe he should visit.

* * *

 **Reviews are welcome. Comment on the flow of the story, elements of the story, grammar, writing, whatever. Compliments are appreciated but critiquing is more appreciated.**

 **Thanks, Z**


	2. East Blue Origins-Part One

HAPPY HALLOWEEN GUYS!

GUESS WHO'S NOT DEAD?!  
THAT'S RIGHT, ME!

Seriously though, I am very sorry for not updating these last few months. School has been very time consuming, so I haven't had much time to write. And whenever I did have time to write, I don't think I was thinking clearly so some things might seem forced or bland in this chapter. I will say that I've barely gotten started on the third chapter, but I'm hoping to push it out by December(?) Maybe not.

Just enjoy this possibly horrible chapter.

Thanks, Z

* * *

Chapter Two: East Blue Origins

Luffy

The little village known as Foosha village was a quite, cozy little place. A place where everybody knew each other and got along just fine. People got on with their lives, quite content with what they had, never asking for anymore than what they needed. It was also the current base of the Red Hair Pirates led by one of the infamous Yonko - Red Hair Shanks.

Every morning, a young voice belonging to one Monkey D. Luffy would sound out from Partys Bar exclaiming, "I'm going to be a pirate!" or "My punch is as strong as a pistol!" or "Shanks! Take me with you next time you leave!" Each and every one of these statements were met with raucous laughter from the pirates who occupied the bar.

One morning a couple days after Luffy had eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi, he yelled, "I'M GOING TO BE THE PIRATE KING!"

It sent the entire room into hysterics, lots of table pounding, knee slapping, tear inducing laughter.

"Oh Anchor, you never change! HAhaHAHA! Oh it's killing me! AHAHAHAHA!" Shanks wheezed out, his crew in a similar state as him.

Luffy only pouted, while the others laughed even harder. He reared back his fist to punch Shanks in the face and threw it forward. It didn't go very far, falling to the ground only to bounce back and smack him in the face.

That just caused the pirates to laugh even harder, clutching their sides with tears streaming down their faces. Shanks fell out of his seat, face red as a tomato, stomach hurting from laughing so hard. After a few minutes of straight laughter, everyone calmed down, taking deep breaths to settle their hearts.

"You never cease to make us laugh, Anchor," said the crew's sniper, Yassop.

"Shame we can't take you on our upcoming voyage," Lucky Roo commented.

"What! You guys are going away again?" Luffy asked.

"Only for a month or so, we're sailing to the North Blue to help Makino get a couple new contracts and then we'll be right back!" Shanks tried to placate Luffy's worries.

Luffy only huffed in annoyance and gave Shanks the cold shoulder. Only to look at Shanks every now and then.

Shanks only ruffled Luffy's hair and returned to his drink.

By the next day Luffy had forgotten his anger and eagerly sent the Red Haired Pirates off.

"BYE SHANKS! EVERYBODY! COME BACK QUICK!" Luffy waved frantically at the slowly retreating ship. The crew at the stern of the ship only waved back in response, too far away to yell something back.

When the ship finally disappeared from view, Luffy stayed on the dock staring off in the direction the Red Force had sailed in.

One Week Later

A week had passed since Shanks and his crew had left.

And only three days had passed since his grandpa, who had decided to visit for the first time in months, had thrown him onto some random wild island, saying, "I'll be back in a week. Don't die." Some grandpa Garp was. At the moment he was running for his life from a rather large tiger. Despite the calmness of the previous statement, Luffy was anything but calm.

Fear gripped his heart, driving him forward, legs a blur beneath him as he crashed through the undergrowth. The earth shook around him as the large tiger gave chase, giant paws smashing into the ground with tremendous force. Luffy thought of nothing, only SURVIVE. He didn't think about what he was doing, he just felt and he did. He felt the hairs on his neck stiffen and he jolted to the left. Not a second later, the tiger's maw slammed shut around the space his head had occupied.

A scream attempted to tear its way from his throat, but his lungs decided air was a better option. Sucking in deeply, his lungs burning, Luffy continued his terror filled escape. In his dash, he failed to realize that he had begun to head towards the base of a cliff and before long he skidded to halt in front of the towering mass of stone. Upon realizing that its prey was no longer running, the tiger slowed to a prowl.

Luffy turned.

He saw the tiger's leg muscles ripple as they coiled, preparing to spring at him with colossal force. A predatory look of triumph glinted within its eyes.

The tiger surged forward.

Time slowed.

He heard nothing but his heart beating within his chest, loud as a war drum.

His breath caught in his throat.

The tiger was in the air, claws out, fearsome jaw wide open, roaring loudly.

In that moment, Luffy did something that would take him years to replicate again.

He slung his fist back, and with all his strength and then some, threw it forward.

His arm stretched out with tremendous force, fist leading the way.

The fist connected.

Time caught up.

The tiger went flying from the punch, its neck broken from the force of the hit. Its body crashed through a tree and landed as a broken heap of flesh and bone at the base of another.

Luffy's arm came flying back, the force of its return catching him unaware, sending him tumbling head-over-heels. He didn't go far, the cliff at his back stopping his spinning form.

Luffy still didn't feel anything. All he could think about was the punch he just dealt.

He stared at his hand in wonder, remembering the feeling of his knuckles smashing against flesh. How his arm had stretched like rubber. How he had used his devil fruit powers, for the first time, to fight.

Luffy celebrated.

"HAHAAA! TAKE THAT, YOU STUPID TIGER! DID YOU SEE THAT?! MY ARM JUST WENT LIKE ZOOM! AND MY FIST WENT LIKE POW! AND THE TIGER JUST WENT WHOOSH THROUGH THE TREE! AND-AND-" Luffy continued shouting until he was just babbling words, saying what came to his mind in his excitement.

Luffy feasted that night, eating the entire tiger by himself.

For the rest of the week, Luffy had no trouble surviving on the island, but was unable to recreate the punch that had sent the tiger flying. He spent hour after hour devoted to punching trees using his devil fruit powers, but he only ended up failing everytime, unable to repeat the feat. His arm always flopped to the found, limp as a wet noodle, sometimes it rebounded and smacked him in the face.

At the end of the week, Garp found Luffy still trying to throw a proper punch.

He only ended up laughing at Luffy, which made Luffy rather angry.

Repeat the bar scene, now only with Garp dying of laughter instead of Shanks.

"BWAHAHAHAHA! What do you think you're doing gaki? BWAHAHA! Punching air? WAHAHAHAHAHA! You look so stupid!" Garp laughed so hard he fell asleep.

Luffy only pouted, knowing he couldn't do anything to his sleeping grandpa.

Garp woke up a few minutes later from his outburst. When he saw Luffy, he snorted in laughter, amusement twinkling within his eyes.

"I don't know what you were doing just then, but that ain't punching. I'll show you what a real punch is," Garp started walking to the cliffside, flinging his jacket to the side.

As he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up he said, "Luffy, I want you to watch closely. This will be your very first lesson to become a great marine."

Garp reached the base of the cliff, Luffy further back so he wouldn't get hurt.

As Garp stared up at the cliff, everything around him seemed to quiet, an atmosphere of anticipation thrumming in the air. With a fearsome yell, Garp reared his fist back and struck the rock face with ferocious intensity.

A ripple of energy spread from his fist through the rough stone. Cracks raced up the side of the cliffside. Rocks started falling down like rain, kicking up copious amounts of dust, the destruction of the stone bluff loud like cannonfire. When all was quiet, the falling rocks gone, and the dust settled, Luffy saw Garp standing in the middle of his destruction unharmed.

Stars replaced Luffy's eyes. "SUUUUUUGOOOOOOOI JIJI! YOU GOTTA TEACH ME HOW TO DO THAT!"

Garp chuckled at Luffy's amazement, "All in good time Luffy. All in good time. You'll need to grow stronger before I can train you or else you'll die on the first day."

Luffy's eyes blazed with determination and nodded his head in agreement, "I'll definitely be strong enough next time you visit!"

Garp just chuckled some more, while he grabbed his abandoned jacket, "I like that spirit, brat. I'll hold it to you then next time I come visit. Now come on, we should head back to Foosha Village before Makino has my head.

Garp hoisted Luffy onto his back, and carried him back to his ship.

A Few Weeks Later

Shanks kept his promise and came back at the end of the month, along with a bunch of merchant contracts for Makino. Luffy was excited to see him, greeting him at the docks, chatting about all that happened during his "training" session and generally fooling around with the rest of the crew.

But Shanks noticed that Luffy wasn't spending as much time with them like he did before and instead spent more time doing who knows what. When he saw him next asked him about it.

"Neh, Luffy. You aren't spending as much time with us as you did before we left. Why is that?" Shanks asked Luffy during dinner.

He replied around a mouthful of food, "Ey wahn te get srohner!"

Shanks couldn't translate, "Huh?"

Luffy swallowed before speaking again, "I said that I want to get stronger. Garp jiji promised to train me to be able to throw punches that can destroy a cliff! But he said I need to get stronger before he can train me properly."

He grabbed his bicep in an attempt to show that he had big muscles, but Shanks only laughed at his antics.

"You'll definitely have to get stronger if you want to become "King of the Pirates" like you so boldly shouted a month ago." Luffy blushed at the statement.

The entire room burst into laughter.

Shanks clapped Luffy on his shoulder and returned to partying with his crew, leaving Luffy with his thoughts.

* * *

Naruto

Naruto had been traveling around the surface for a number of years, visiting all around the world. He had been visiting each of the Blues, finding different islands and discovering the most wondrous things about each one. He had also helped guide the hand of destiny here and there, nudging many in the right direction.

He remembered many of them: a gluttonous young girl with vibrant pink hair, a child with a spotted hat running from a battle, a blond youth fleeing an abusive home, a budding man with fiery red hair and a dangerous glint in his eyes, a woman pregnant with a child destined for great things. So many meant for greatness, but what exactly was still yet to be seen.

Naruto decided to journey to the East Blue and see what it had to offer, vaguely noting that it was where Roger had been born. He reached a rather mountainous island around noon, and from the shore, he could see a dojo of sorts resting on the mountains, nestled between two peaks. A good place to start his explorations he mused to himself. He took off loping through the forest at an easy pace. The trees flew past him and before long, he arrived at the base of the one of the mountains.

He saw a pathway to his left, one that winded around the entire mountain range before it, most likely, ended at the dojo.

He opted to take the easier path and just walked up the side of the mountain. ("easier" my ass)

It was a simple climb. He reached the edge of the small expanse within minutes, covering a distance that would've taken hours for normal people.

He came upon the actual dojo a noted many things about it and it's surroundings. It was of a respectable size with a wall surrounding the entire property. There was a rock garden set to the left of the entire place, a small pond beside it fed by a small stream from the mountains. The dojo that dominated the plot of land, had a traditional Japanese style to it. An engawa wrapped around the entire structure disappearing behind it. The heavy wooden adamo panels were open allowing light and air to flow through the building, but the shoji doors were firmly shut. There were many flat stones of differentiating sizes set in the ground that made small paths between the buildings. To the right was a small shed, which probably held spare equipment and other tools required for the style taught in this dojo. Judging from the sound of loud, frequent thwacks coming from the dojo itself, he assumed that it was a style of the sword.

It seemed that the training session wasn't going to end any time soon, so Naruto decided to find a nice little spot to curl up and nap. On the other side of the dojo, was a small clearing that overlooked a small village. There, he found a nice flat rock, warmed by the sun, curled up on it and fell asleep.

A Few Hours Later

He awoke to the feeling of someone's eyes on him.

He sniffed the air; the smell of sweat, bamboo and steel wafted past his sensitive nose along with the barest hint of a rather feminine smell.

A girl.

He opened a single eye, the white flower of the Tenseigan covering it, and stared at the young girl who was staring at him.

She was just sitting there with a shinai laid across her lap, staring at him with her eyes that were brown like chocolate.

She saw his eyes and softly exclaimed, "So pretty!"

He closed his eye again, basking in the afternoon sun, wanting the girl to leave him alone. He needed sleep.

He heard her shuffling closer.

He sighed internally.

He opened both his eyes, raised his head to look at her and gave her a baleful look.

She inched even closer, hand slowly raising, gently moving forward.

'She wants to pet me!" he thought, "I am NOT a pet! I will not be disgraced as su-'

Her hand lightly rubbed his head.

'Oh. Oh. That- that was rather...pleasant.'

She rubbed his head even more, 'Uhhh, that feels good. Reeeeeeaaaaaalllllly good. Oh man. Ohhh yes. Scratch right there.'

He started rubbing his hand back into her hand. She smiled and decided to scratch the area behind his left ear.

'Mhmmmm. That hits the spot,' his had a half-lidded expression of pleasure on his face (Would it really be called a face? I think of a human face when I read it. Weird image. Oh well.)

He deemed it reasonable to spend the rest of the day with blue-haired, chocolate-eyed girl. The petting and scratching were a bonus. Later that week, he learned that the dojo was called the Isshin Dojo, a school of kenjutsu, and that the village he had seen earlier was named Shimotsuki.

Many of the dojo's students were men and boys who wanted to learn the finer points of swordsmanship, so that they could protect the village in case it was attacked. There were few real students that resided at the dojo, one green haired boy stuck out amongst the other plain pupils (Let's play a game. It's called spot the main/important character! *random reader* Is it the one with brown hair and plain clothes on the right?! WRONG! It's the one with green hair on the left you dUMBASS! It's Zoro for the idiots who haven't figured it out by now). Everyday, he would challenge Kuina, the blue-haired, chocolate-eyed girl, and everyday, he would lose. They were around one thousand eight hundred battles now, all of them won by Kuina.

'She has true potential to reach high in the world,' Naruto noted while he watched her dual, 'But she barely has any drive to push herself. She is like smoke compared to the passionate wildfire that is Zoro. Unless she finds something to motivate her, Zoro will beat her within the next year.'

He had watched Zoro too. His unwavering determination to beat Kuina was admirable, but his training methods were a little… interesting. Lifting boulders twice his size with his neck, while holding a weight with his mouth, WHILE balancing on a single rock in the middle of a river was probably the most extreme form of training he had ever seen in his ENTIRE life.

His training was more intense than anything Rock Lee had ever done when he was in the Academy (Zoro is like 8 now, around the time Lee would've started focusing on taijutsu (maybe a little later))

It was something indeed.

* * *

He had become a regular sight at the dojo, following Kuina around, sometimes even accompanying Zoro to his "training" sessions. He found himself drawn to the rock garden, it's energy so well balanced. He spent many afternoons lazing around on one of the larger rocks, watching the daily activities of the dojo with half-lidded eyes.

He had watched a hundred more duels between Kuina and Zoro, Kuina still winning them all, but he noticed that they were longer. Zoro was fighting better. He had been conflicted the past two and a half months on whether or not he should talk to her, but he had a gut feeling to wait it out.

Destiny touched Zoro too much, and he had a feeling Kuina was intertwined within it. He would have to wait and watch what unfolded before he could take action.

* * *

Zoro

Match number one thousand nine hundred fifty six ended. The winner? Kuina.

Zoro had lost once again.

He had been oh so very close to hitting Kuina, but she had masterfully deflected his final slash toward the ground, her shinai staying in contact of his the entire time. Then, with one fluid motion that gave him no time to recover, she hit his hand, struck his chest and ended the spar gently prodding the soft flesh of his throat.

"How many is that now little Zoro? One thousand nine hundred fifty six wins to me and none for you. How does it feel? To be beaten so many times and not even win once?" Kuina teased him.

Zoro only glared at her growling out, "I'll beat you one day. Just you wait. I just need to train more."

Kuina only scoffed at him and turned away. Zoro only watched her retreating form, thinking over the fight.

Before she entered the dojo, she turned and waved at him before turning back around and slipping in.

He pivoted and began walking to the forest to do more training, when he saw that stupid fox that had shown up a couple months ago. All it would do would stare at him with violet eyes that seemed to pierce his very being.

He shuddered.

It would also follow him time to time and watch him train. He didn't mind it then, his focus purely on beating Kuina.

As he passed it now, it got up stretching out it's body and padded silently behind him. When he got to his designated training area, he had decided to start off with log flips and progress from there. He noticed the fox bathing in the stream, before he turned and chose a log to flip.

He gripped the edge of one of the sides, pulling it past his shoulders, grunting with the effort, then pushed it over the other end.

*THUD*

"One."

He did it again.

*THUD*

"Two."

And again.

*THUD*

"Three."

And again.

*THUD*

"Four."

*THUD*

"Five."

*THUD*

"Six."

*THUD*

"Seven."

*THUD*

"Eight."

*THUD*

"Nine."

*THUD*

"Ten."

*THUD*

"Eleven, *THUD* Twelve, *THUD* Thirteen, *THUD* Fourteen, *THUD* Fifteen, *THUD* Sixteen…"

Forty Five Minutes Later

*THUD*

"Sixty nine"

A Couple Hours Later, When The Sun Had Almost Set

*THUD*

"Four hundred twenty"

Night

*THUD*

"One thousand ...nine hundred ...ninety threeseven"

*THUD*

"One thousand *pant* nine hundred, hu...hu...hu, ninety eight"

*THUD*

"One thousand, hah-hah-hah, nine hundred *pant* ninety nine"

"Hah, huh, hah."

*THUD*

"Two thousand"

Zoro let the log crash to the ground one final time and fell onto his back, muscles to tired to support him.

He lay there panting, thinking about his next duel with Kuina tomorrow and how he was going to beat her.

A soft rustling came from his left. Turning his head, he saw that damned fox standing up, still staring at him.

It stared at him for a few more moments before turning around and headed back to the dojo (probably to the small clearing that overlooked the village).

He only shook his head with irritation, and looked back towards the sky.

Before long, he fell asleep under the stars.

The Next Day

"Zoro."

"Mmmmm, let me sleep."

"Zoro, wake up!"

"Uhhh, Go away," He turned over

"Goddamn it Zoro! WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

A shinai smacked him in the face. Hard.

"AAAAHH! I'M UP! I'm UP!" he yelled.

Sitting up, he could already feel a knot forming on his forehead. Rubbing it, Zoro glared at his attacker.

It was Kuina. One hand held her shinai, the other, a small bowl of rice congee topped with sautéed vegetables and seared meat.

She held out the bowl, "It's already past nine. You missed breakfast, but I saved this for you."

Zoro took the bowl murmuring a thanks at her.

When he looked back down, the fox was there, behind her left leg. Still staring at him weirdly.

He'd chase it away, but Kuina seemed to have grown quite fond of it. He didn't think he was ready to die just yet.

While he was eating, Kuina had sat down and began to pet the fox, scratching behind its ears.

"When did you get the fox?" he blurted out. It had been on his mind for some time, but he had never gotten around to asking her.

"I didn't "get" him, Zoro. I saw him sleeping at the northern clearing after practice around… uhm… I think it was about… uhhh… five months ago. I thought he looked so adorable, and went to pet him. He's stayed ever since then," she shrugged.

"Come on, dad said that practice starts in 10 minutes and I'd rather not be late and be punished," she said as she got up and began to walk away, the fox not too far behind her.

Zoro scarfed down the rest of his breakfast before quickly following.

* * *

Naruto

Repetitive thuds rang out from the training yard. The dojo students stood in front of posts, practicing their technique and form, Koshiro walking around correcting what needed to be corrected and giving different pieces of advice.

Naruto was at the peak of the mountain, his chakra mixing and flowing with the natural chakra around him. His senses were heightened to the point where he could practically feel everything in the general vicinity. The swift air currents above him. The shifting rocks below him. The vivid energy of the vegetation around him. The swirling currents of the ocean that surrounded the island.

He did this every week, a practice he had gotten into hundreds of years ago, and one he still did after waking up. It helped soothe his old mind and relax his body. He remembered in his younger days when he had integrated too much of his chakra with the world's natural chakra and had been sucked into it's flow. It was a most interesting experience to him. He could literally feel everything that was happening on the land, in the sea and in the air. Yet, at the same time he wasn't able to comprehend anything what his senses were telling him.

Naruto had ended up drifting through the world's natural chakra for nearly a century before his physical body had accumulated enough chakra for him to drag his spiritual body back to it's proper place.

Despite chakra being lost to the ages, he could still identify people by their spiritual power. Spirits were like pale imitations of pure chakra and as such, had their own unique signature. One thing he had learned in his younger days, was that spirits don't grow. People are born with a spirit of varying size and it never changes throughout their lifetime. The spirit holds immense power, a reason why it is the cost of using the Shiki Fūjin technique, but rarely do people access its full capability. So when people are described to have grown more powerful, are they have really achieved is a better usage of their soul. Because spirits do not grow, they can show the fullest potential that an individual can grow in strength, and even then, there are those who can break the limits of their own spirit and become truly amazing. Naruto thought of a few men that he had met in the last 50 years who had done such a feat and become truly extraordinary individuals. One became hailed as The King, the other The Strongest and the third The Fist.

He was currently watching the dojo students, more specifically at their spirits. He was focused particularly on Zoro and Kuina, their spirits absolutely massive, Zoro's more so than Kuina's.

They were going to do great things, he just knew it.

* * *

A loud "THWACK" sounded from the middle of the field followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground.

It was the sound of another defeat for Zoro. The two thousandth one to be exact.

Naruto was laying in the shade of a tree, a tray of tea beside him where Koshiro had set it. Both children were making their way over to him, tired and thirsty after a rather intense spar.

"I'll beat you one day Kuina, just you wait!" Zoro declared vehemently.

"Yeah, I'll be an old hag when you do that," She retorted instantly.

"HEY! SHUT UP YOU-YOU-YOU…!" Zoro struggled to think of a good enough comeback as they sat down. Sadly, his brain literally did not have the capacity to do so at the moment and began to smoke from being overworked.

Naruto hit him with his tail in irritation, glaring fiercely at him. Zoro's loud voice painfully grated on his eardrums.

Zoro quieted immediately, intimidated by the large white fox.

Kuina only laughed at Zoro's fearful disposition of him and began to pet his head. Naruto closed his eyes in content, her ministrations pleasing him greatly.

They all sat there, the children enjoying the tea and Naruto enjoying the peace.

"Kuina," Zoro said suddenly, "I challenge you to a fight with real steel."

Kuina was taken aback by his determined expression and serious tone.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Zoro?" She breathed out, "I don't know if we're ready to do somet-"

"NO!" Zoro cut her off, "I've seen how you aren't trying as hard during training and even during the spars. A year ago you could beat the now you in 5 seconds flat! I don't know what's bothering you, but enough is enough! Fight me with steel tomorrow night. Don't try and I won't consider you a person worth beating! Back out and I won't consider you a person worth acknowledging!"

*SMACK*

Kuina's hand struck Zoro across the cheek.

She stood up with livid expression upon her face, "You want a fight! I'll give you one! I'll beat your hide black and blue to the point where you'll give up the sword and live your life as stupid, lonely hermit!"

She stalked off.

Zoro watched her go and when she stormed into the dojo, the tension, that had accumulated in his body, left. He laid down beside Naruto talking aloud.

"What is wrong with her? Why is she not trying anymore? Maybe she's dying of some super rare illness. Or maybe someone predicted her future and said that she was going to die soon. Possibl-mmf!"

Naruto had gotten irritated of Zoro's muttering and had covered his mouth with his tail. He wanted to give Zoro some advice, but didn't feel like going through the hassle of "Wow! It's a talking animal" tyriad.

"I've become a lot like Shikamaru," He mused to himself, "Everything is becoming a hassle or too troublesome nowadays. Guess that's what I get for growing this old."

He let out a soft snort of amusement, which gained the curious attention of Zoro.

Zoro shrugged it off and returned to his thoughts concerning his rival.

Throughout the rest of the day, Kuina avoided Zoro as much as possible.

Her behavior continued well into the next day.

Half an hour before their match, Naruto was already waiting by the designated field, draped on a tree branch, ready to observe the clash of pride between future monsters. He could feel it in his soul, how this match was a pivotal point in the flow of destiny for the two of them. But he would have to wait and see what would become of the match.

* * *

The moon was shining bright and full on the two combatants. One holding two black katanas, the other, a single white one. This was a fight neither could lose, their pride on the line.

Naruto could feel the ever twisting ribbons of fate still.

It was starting.

So he observed. Everything.

The wind stilled.

The forest grew silent.

"CAW!"

A lone crow burst out from the trees and the two combatants rushed at each other.

Zoro struck first with a slice from his right katana. Kuina easily dodged it before blocking the follow up swing from his left katana. She pivoted to the right and shot her leg out in a sweeping motion, but Zoro, who had been beaten by that move many times before, jumped over it. Using the momentum from the jump, he twisted his body to swing his right katana at Kuina's unprotected flank, but she swung her sword against his deflecting it down into the dirt. Zoro instantly used it as extra leverage to throw himself away from Kuina. Barely a second after, her blade sliced the air where he had been.

They separated from each other and began to slowly circled around the field. Eyes flicked across each other's body, looking for the slightest opening. Kuina noticed that Zoro had dropped his guard on his left side just a little, but that was all she needed. She rushed at him with a burst of speed, feinting to the right, but stepping to the left dodging Zoro's right swing. She was in prime position to strike him, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Her eyes flicked down to see Zoro's knee planted firmly in her abdomen and her face contorted into a pained expression. Shit! Zoro must of intentionally left his guard down to get me close! Kuina immediately jumped back, barely evading Zoro's reverse slash. She leapt at him again with a mighty overhead swing, but Zoro crossed his swords and blocked it using their leverage. Pushing her sword to the left, Zoro spun to the right swinging both swords with him gaining momentum and smashed them right into Kuina's hastily erected defense. He pushed he back a couple meters, but she immediately charged at him again.

Back and forth.

And back and forth.

The ringling clash of steel against steel reverberated through the clearing.

They continued for well over an hour, constantly fighting without rest. Finally, they both sprang away from each other, exhausted. Zoro was so, so tired, barely able to hold his swords. Kuina looked better, but she was just as tired, her arms trembling from the exertion of the fight.

They both knew that what happened next would end the fight.

They rushed at each other one final time.

They collided in the center of the field, and Zoro was slammed into the ground immediately, both swords stuck from his hands, Kuina's deep in the earth millimeters from his head.

The fight had ended.

Kuina the victor.

Zoro just laid there defeated, weak, and tired. But all of a sudden, he felt tears fall on his face.

He looked up into Kuina's face and saw tears running down her face, dripping ever so often onto his face.

"Why are you crying? YOU WON! 2001 TO 0, YOU! SO WHY ARE YOU CRYING?!" raged Zoro.

" I know that I've won, but I cry because this may very well be the last time I win against you. As girls grow older, they become weaker than men. They grow breasts and hips and weak. My own chest has started to grow out and I just can't accept it. I want to be the best swordswomen in the world, but my father said it's not possib- *SMACK*" Zoro interrupted Kuina mid-sentence by punching her across the cheek.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR SUCH DISGUSTING, WEAK, PATHETIC WORDS COMING FROM YOUR MOUTH! I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE A MAN OR WOMAN! ALL I CARE IS THAT I BEAT YOU WITH THE SKILLS THAT I HAVE SO PAINSTAKINGLY PRACTICED THIS LAST YEAR BECAUSE YOU WERE MY GOAL! YOU ARE THE REASON THAT I PUSHED MYSELF SO HARD! YOU'RE THE REASON WHY I JOINED THIS DOJO, SO DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME SOME BULLSHIT EXCUSE THAT I BEAT YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE A WOMEN! I WILL BEAT YOU WITH MY BEST SKILLS AGAINST YOURS!" Zoro roared.

He lowered his voice to a deathly, serious tone, "I want you to make a promise with me, right here, right now; that one of us will reach the top and become the best swordsman or swordswoman in the world. Promise?"

Kuina nodded her head, tears of happiness replacing her tears of bitter, sadness.

Naruto took that moment to hop down from his tree, extremely satisfied with what had happened tonight, and slinked right next to Kuina. Zoro stared at him before turning away and heading to the the dormitories, while Kuina turned and headed back to the dojo, Naruto hot on her heels.

* * *

The next morning Naruto woke up next to Kuina's bed, its owner nowhere in sight, so he decided to go look for her. He hopped out the window and onto the roof, heading towards the dojo. As he passed a small section of the woods, he heard crashing sounds resounding from within the foliage and instantly assumed that it was Zoro training again.

He resumed searching for Kuina, when he caught her scent, a distinctive smell of bamboo and lavender, somewhere near the basement.

He jumped down from the roof, landing lightly in the courtyard and headed inside to the basement steps, but as he reached the top of the stairs he saw Kuina walking up with a whetstone.

Then her foot slipped on the top step and she started to fall backwards down the steps.

* * *

 **So that wasn't too bad was it? I hope not.**

 **I originally planned to write more and include Nami and Sandi in this chapter but just didn't have the time. Instead they'll have their own chapter along with finishing up with Zero and Luffy.**

 **Anyway, reviews are always helpful and favouring and\or following the story wouldn't hurt.**

 **Thanks, Z**


	3. East Blue Origins Part Two

**God, I am one hell of a shitty author. You guys who put up with me are too good for me. I've been somewhat busy, but also kinda struggling with the story. Originally, I was intending to make each chapter around 8k words, but I read something online that changed my view on my writing quota, so as of now, I'll post chapters that I believe adequately move the story forward without too much junk in the middle.**

 **So I'll probably update more frequently (hopefully once a month and then down to at least once every two weeks, but we'll see how that goes)**

 **I didn't have this chapter proofread, so there might be a couple grammatical errors here or there, but hopefully they are minuscule mistakes that you'll barely notice.**

 **Read on! ~ Z**

Chapter 3: East Blue Origins- Part 2

 **Naruto**

Naruto bolted forward and grabbed her foot with his tail, but ended up ripping her slipper off. His mad dash only served in accelerating her fall.

Her head hit the third step with a sickening crunch, a bloody mark left imprinted on it.

He was so close to her.

Her arm snapped, bone tearing through flesh, on the fifth.

He lunged out, changing form, arms outstretched, fingers just out of reach.

Her right leg was about to slam against the wall and the eighth step.

Sending a burst of wind chakra out his feet, he accelerated towards her, grabbing her out of the air, but was a second too late to save her right leg from shattering.

The moment he had touched her though, he had flooded her body with his chakra in an attempt to fortify her body and prevent anymore injuries. Despite all his experience, he didn't know how bad the injuries truly were until he could examine them, and even then he didn't know if he could save her.

Naruto attempted to stop himself on the tenth step by sticking his feet to it, but the whetstone Kuina had thrown into the air smashed into his face, sending him careening down the rest of the steps, body curled protectively around Kuina's already battered form.

They tumbled down to the bottom of the steps, where Naruto smacked the back of his head against the concrete floor.

Hot pain lanced through his skull, vision blurring.

He could feel hot blood streaming down the left side of his face from a deep laceration made from the whetstone on his forehead. It was blinding his left eye, darkness creeping up along the edges of the vision in his right.

He pushed through it. His drive to save Kuina greater than what his body wanted.

Sitting up, body screaming in protest, he gently laid Kuina on her back to check her injuries with mechanical precision.

 _Severe head trauma, most likely a concussion too. Cervical herniation in the C6 and C7 discs. Compound, open fracture of the radius and ulna of her right arm with a comminuted fracture in the ulna, bone fragments scattered throughout the muscle tissue and skin. Right leg dislocated. Stable fracture within the femur. Cracked tibia and an oblique fracture within the fibula. Multiple, small lacerations and contusions along the torso and across the arms and legs._

Without wasting a single moment, Naruto used much of his chakra to stabilize and reduce the swelling within her brain and to contain as much of the inner core of the cervical discs from leaking out. He used the rest to heal the bones in her leg and arm with cleaner fractures and major lacerations and contusions along her body. Almost immediately as he began healing Kuina, white-hot pain lanced through his mind.

He ignored it, gritting his teeth.

He could hear loud footsteps thundering overhead heading towards the basement door, but he paid them no heed, Kuina his only focus.

He used a jutsu to place her right arm and right leg in a stasis of sorts that would protect them any further harm.

Footsteps were pounding down the steps, the soft whisper of steel rubbing against leather could be heard.

Realizing that whoever was coming down the steps would most likely chop his head off when they saw him hunching over Kuina's comatose form, Naruto began to fix as much as he could in the little time he had. He couldn't do anything about her head injuries due to the complexity of the human brain, but he tried his best with the more severe trauma. He used his chakra with surgical precision to pull as many bone fragments back in place as he could. The pain in his mind only became stronger, more thunderous, like someone was repeatedly drilling large holes through his head, but he ignored it with extreme difficulty. At the same time, he was blocking up and strengthening the injured discs in her neck, which was all he could do, leaving them to heal on their own.

He leaned back, the pain inside his head steadily increasing without pause.

All of a sudden, a sharp burning sensation spread from within his chest. Looking down, he saw that a blade stained with his blood had sprouted from it.

 _Shit, I let my guard down. Didn't realize that the footsteps had reached the bottom of the steps_.

Knowing he couldn't do anymore for Kuina, he slammed his palm against the blade, snapping it at the point where it exited his person. Then leaning forward, he let the rest of the blade slide out of his back, while he sweeped his left leg around, catching his attacker behind the knees sending them sprawling on the ground. His head began to feel like sledgehammers were slamming into them, the pain bringing him to his knees, hands on his temples. Immediately, another sword wedged itself into his shoulder. Blocking out the intense pain for a second, Naruto kicked up with his right leg, his heel catching his second attacker under the chin, knocking them out immediately. He stood up only to stumble and fall back to the ground. He stood back up using pure willpower to hold off the unrelenting pain in his head when he saw the dojo's master, Kuina's father, standing at the base of the steps, a naked sword held loosely in his hand.

Naruto looked him in the eye, "She has potential."

He teleported away leaving the man with his own thoughts.

* * *

Naruto arrived at an uninhabited island he had passed many months earlier, collapsing to the ground struggling to stay conscious, the excruciating pain the only thing he could think about.

 _What is this? What is going on? I don't understand._

He felt something wrapping around his chakra pathways and obstructing many of his tenketsu, but he barely registered what exactly was happening due to the tortuous and thunderous pounding within his head.

The pain became too much for him, but before he could embrace the sweet darkness, he heard a voice whisper in his head:

 _This is your punishment._

He slipped into the darkness.

* * *

Naruto shot up into an upright position, gasping for breath. His throat was extremely parched, and his entire body ached with pain, sore from his thrashing and convulsing. He made to get up, but he ended up collapsing back to the ground, his body too weak to move. He rolled onto his back, staring up at the sky. He duly noted that he had been unconscious for more than twelve hours, the morning sun replaced by the stars and the moon.

He did the only thing he could do.

He slept.

* * *

 **Shanks**

They had been traveling for a couple days now, their spirits battered and dulled from the harsh winds of the North Blue and a rather nasty hurricane. They had been blown far off of their original course taking almost a week to get back on track.

Now, their spirits were a lot better with spirits warming their bellies and addling their minds. Ben was at the helm and Yasopp was in the nest, while the rest of the crew partied. Shanks was learning on the port railing, looking out to sea thinking about Luffy.

"Captain!" Ben called out, interrupting Shanks' musings, "We're passing by an uncharted island. Do you want to stop and replenish our water supply?"

"Why not," he replied, "It wouldn't hurt to stop for the night. I could definitely do with some solid land. The North Blue was far rougher this time around than normal. To be honest, I think it'll do the crew a lot of good."

Ben nodded affirmatively before turning and bellowing, "PREPARE TO LAND!"

The deck exploded into a flurry of activity. Men were stowing away loose gear and other items. Others were hoisting up the sails and securing them to their respective yards. Two were preparing the anchor to be dropped. The rest went about their regular routines.

It took them a matter of minutes to reach the sandy shore of the small island. Much of the crew were already relaxing on the beach, napping under the shade of the trees or basking in the warmth of the sand. The rest were busy exploring the dingy, little island for fresh water sources.

While others were working, Shanks, being the lazy captain he was, had decided to relax under a nice tree he had found. His thoughts turned back to Luffy again. They had to leave the little monkey again when a friend had called, asking for some help. As they left, he had spotted Garp's ship off in the horizon and he knew that the old man would put Luffy through another week of his "training".

Normally Luffy was back on Foosha Island before he got back, so he was looking forward to talking with him and swapping stories about their most recent "adventures".

Once again, someone interrupted his musings, "Cap'n, we found somebody sleepin' on the otha side of tha island. He seems pretty outta it. Wouldn' wake up for nothin'. We didn' know what to do so we brought him to ya instead!"

Shanks facepalmed.

"You can't just kidnap a person because he won't wake up guys!"

Exasperated he looked up at his crew members. There were three of them. The middle one was well built, with broad shoulders, thick, corded arms and a very respectable height. The other two were similarly built, but leaner and more lithe. The one in the middle, Cadsin, was carrying the man they had found slung across his shoulders.

"Well, he's here now so we might as well take a look at him. Cadsin, put him on the ground."

Cadsin obeyed immediately and dropped the man on the ground (more like threw him to the ground).

"Cadsin!" Shanks cried in a panic, "You can't treat strangers like that! What if you had hurt him?!"

Shanks dropped to his knees to check that the stranger hadn't sustained any serious injuries and sighed with relief when he saw that the man didn't seem to injured at all. That showed that he was at least somewhat strong (Ah yes, I can be thrown to the ground and not be hurt. I must be strong.)

He sat back on his heels and just observed the man. He was quite old looking - correction - he looked positively ancient. His creased skin was scarred and weather worn. His body was well built for a man of his age. Plenty of muscle, yet not a disgusting amount. Scars marred his skin.

 _A war veteran possibly?_ Shanks mused, absently tracing the crevices.

Abruptly, he stood up, dusting the sand off his pants, addressing Cadsin, " I want you to take this geezer to the infirmary. Ben told me that this island is uninhabited, so he's probably stranded."

Cadsin nodded, picking the prone man up and walking in the direction of the Red Force.

Shanks then rounded on the other two, "I want you two to go back to where you found him and see if you can found anything that might belong to him. Report back to the ship in an hour."

They responded with a curt nod and a "Cap'n" before heading off.

Shanks settled back down on the ground and decided to take a nap.

* * *

 **Naruto**

He woke up to the gentle rocking of a ship, looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling, in an unfamiliar bed.

He also noticed that he wasn't tied down or restrained in any manner whatsoever.

All in all… it wasn't too bad.

He decided that whoever had brought him aboard was extremely confident in their strength or actually wanted to help him. Perhaps it was both. Either way, his questions weren't going to be answered laying around.

He kicked the covers off of himself and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sitting upright.

From what he could see, the room was the infirmary. There were two more beds next to the one he was occupying. Across from him was a desk with an assortment of plants, vials with some sort of substance in them and a variety of pill-filled jars.

He stood up and walked out, quietly closing the door behind him.

 _Time to explore!_ he thought to himself.

He ambled along the hallways aimlessly. So far, he had found the kitchen along with the mess, the captain's quarters, a set of stairs that led to the cargo hold and a room filled with beds (probably sleeping quarters for the crew). One room had a mirror in it, which he had stood in front of contemplating what exactly the old face staring back at him meant.

He shrugged his shoulders and left the room. It was problem for later.

Eventually, he found a large set of stairs that led to a closed door. Light was filtering through the little porthole and he could hear the small lapping of waves against the ship. Not hearing any voices, he pushed the door open to a bright, sunny day and an empty deck. As he walked out some more, he realized that shp he was on was docked at an island.

Curiosity overtook him and he walked down the gangplank onto the small pier. He strolled into the small village keen on finding someone to tell him where he was.

Aha! There was an old man headed his way. A man who could most definitely answer a few of his questions.

He waved to get his attention, "Excuse my kind sir, could you tell where exactly I am along with today's date?"

The old man looked up with a smile, "Why of course my dear friend! You are in Foosha Village on Dawn Island. Today is Monday the 16th."

" Thanks. I...um… I actually have another question if you don't mind," he stated sheepishly, rubbing his head.

The old man laughed, "Hoho, I don't mind. Fire away!"

Naruto pointed to the Red Force, "Uhhh… who's ship is that?"

A surprised look crossed the elder's face, but it turned into one of understanding, "You probably haven't heard of him, living in the East Blue and all, but that is the ship of Red-Haired Shanks, captain of the Red Hair pirates. They are really famous pirates, Red Hair is actually one of the four Yonko, so he and his crew are immensely strong! So strong in fact that I hea-"

Naruto tuned out the old man, instead thinking about this Shanks character. He had heard of him before during his travels. A man of great power that was rivaled by few if the rumors were true. He had yet to meet the man, or any of the Yonko for that matter.

"-and he's such a bad influence on Luffy! Making him want to become a pirate of all things!" the old man finished his rant.

"Where can I find this Shanks person?" Naruto quickly asked, "I would like to thank him for rescuing me from a deserted island,"

"Ah, he should be at Partys Bar at the moment with his crew. Just continue down this street," he pointed to where he had come from, "And you should see it on the right."

"Thank you very much. I didn't say it before, but my name is Naruto," Naruto said, extending his hand out.

The old man shook it, "Mine is Wood Slap, mayor of this village. It was nice meeting you Naruto"

They parted ways, Wood Slap going to whatever destination he had in mind and Naruto down the street to find the bar that Shanks was partying in.

* * *

It didn't take him long to find the bar, mainly because he heard it before he saw it.

 _They sure know how to party,_ he thought to himself. The raucous laughter and shouting could be heard more than 200 meters away from the bar itself. The noise only got louder as he got closer, horrible singing becoming the most prominenet. He cringed in pain, the strident sounds pounding against his eardrums.

He somehow made it to the doors without bleeding out of his ears. He touched his ears, his fingers coming away slightly stained red.

Scratch that. It was either really bad, or it was just him. Probably just him.

He wiped the blood out of his ear before stomping into the bar extremely vexed.

"ALRIGHT! Which one of you bastards is doing the horrible singing? I'm gonna rip you a new one!" he shouted vehemently.

Every single one of the pirates pointed to a drunk redhead at the bar, still singing extremely off key, a young black haired child right next to him singing just as loudly and possibly even worst than the redhead.

He marched over to them, grabbed their heads and smacked a rubber skull against a normal one.

(Yeah. You can imagine how that turned out.)

Shanks' head pressed into the child's slightly. Realizing that the her hadn't hurt them, Naruto let go of both of their heads, fuming a little bit.

A well known property of rubber is its elasticity, or in other words, its ability to return to its original shape.

The child is rubber.

The child's head is round.

Shanks's head was pushed into said round head, deforming the shape.

Naruto had let go of their heads…

.

.

.

.

*SMACK*

~Outside the Bar~

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH! My head!"

Birds took off in fright.

Villagers passing by looked at the bar in curiosity.

~Back Inside~

Shanks was on the ground his head in his heads, his crew laughing at his moaning form.

"SHUT IT YOU BASTARDS!" and angry redhead shouted from the floor, face red from beer… or maybe embarrassment. (definitely embarrassment.)

Across from Shanks, the black haired child, was rolling around on the ground also laughing at Shanks, seemingly unaffected by the fall. Shanks just curled up into a ball, tears of shame spilling out of his eyes, "Not you too Luffy…"

" _Ah, so the child's name is Luffy,"_ Naruto thought as he sat down at the bar. " May I have some water?" he asked the rather attractive bartender, "Also, I would like a bowl of ramen, please if that isn't too much."

She looked at him with a confused look on her face, "Ra...men? What's that?"

Naruto slammed his head against the countertop, tears falling from his eyes.

"No where."

He smacked his head against the counter again.

"I haven't found my precious ramen."

He continued bashing his head against the bar muttering incoherently about ramen. Everyone just looked at him like he was crazy.

The bartender just placed a glass of water in front of the old man before turning and scolding the black haired child for laughing at Shanks.

"Luffy! Stop laughing and go help Shanks!" she admonished.

The black haired child, Luffy, stumbled over to Shanks trying his best to hold in his giggling.

He tripped over his feet and fell on top of Shanks, causing a ripple of laughter to sweep through the room, even Naruto let out a quiet chuckle.

After everyone had finished laughing and returned to their original conversations, Shanks stood up, hoisting Luffy onto his seat, before plopping down beside Naruto.

"The name's Shanks. Proud captain of the Red Hair pirates."

"It's nice to finally meet you Shanks. I'm Naruto."

 **As always, favorite and follow if you liked this and don't be afraid to PM me with question and suggestions (although they might not be used)**

 **Thanks, Z**


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